


one second in time

by Rai99



Category: Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cute Kougyoku, Drabble, F/M, Flower Crowns, Fluff and Angst, Grumpy jealous Judal, Jealousy, Judal is an idiot, Judal is bad with feelings, One Shot, Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-31
Updated: 2018-03-31
Packaged: 2019-04-16 05:18:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14157630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rai99/pseuds/Rai99
Summary: Judar was never too keen on feelings.He never wanted to feel.But it seemed like that was all a certain redhead Princess was making him do.(JuKou drabble set loosely around the beginning of season 2 in the anime)(Rated T for language)





	one second in time

**Author's Note:**

> Hello everyone! This is my first contribution to this fandom. Magi is one of best mangas I've read and JuKou's been somewhat of an OTP for me for a long time though the manga ending really wasn't the best. But we can't always have nice things, can we? I really wish that Ohtaka-sensei could've done something for JuKou given all the hints she dropped. At any rate, this is a little drabble I wrote a long time back. It's set around the beginning of season 2, before Kou decides to declare war against Reim. I hope they aren't OOC, haven't really been much in touch with Magi after it ended. Excuse typos as well as this is unbeta-ed. Please enjoy!

* * *

 

“....what the hell are you doing?”

Kougyoku perked up, a literal assortment of flowers scattered all around her before her face twisted to a scowl at the sound of his tone.

“No need to be so rude, you know,” she replied with disdain.

Judar shot her an equally sour look, his hands on his hips.

“Answer the question,”

Kougyoku rolled her eyes. “What does it look like? I’m making flower crowns,”

The magi stared blankly, the line registering in his head as the evening wind fluttered his long braid. The dumb princess was making flower crowns.

Flower crowns.

Fucking flower crowns.

When the Kou Empire was almost at the brink of declaring war against the Reim Empire for good measure.

Sure, this was probably the result of her worrywart of a mind - he still remembered when he told her to prepare for conquering Vinea's dungeon and the girl actually went and stress ate almost a _hundred_ bananas, _what the actual fuck._  

Well, at least she ended up conquering said dungeon.

But that wasn't the issue right now. 

The issue here was that the magi had actually ditched a rather important meeting set by, for the lack of a better term - but really, it suited her more - witch of the Ren family, Gyokuen and decided, out of the goodness of his heart, that he would keep this lonely hag some company.

Not because he was lonely.

Not because he missed the redhead.

Or her smiles.

Or her laugh.

Or the cute 'Judar-kun!' that would come his way whenever they crossed paths.

He _definitely_ wasn't mad that now it was all 'Sinbad-sama this' or 'Sinbad-sama that'. 

He was _not_ jealous.

_Anyways._

And now, when he finally had the time to maybe hang out with her and pester her, tease her, make her _smile_ , - not because he loved that smile, definitely _not_ \- she's here wasting time on making flower crowns. 

He shook his head.

No.

This could not go on any longer.

No more making fucking flower crowns.

“Oi – “ he started in a rough voice when immediately she threw a bundle of thread at him resulting in him being tangled by it.

“What the hell are you doing?!” he snapped, pulling at the strings to which Kougyoku merely stuck out her tongue before nonchalantly replying, “This is your redemption for throwing me into that lake of electric eels. You’re gonna sit tight and let me make these flower crowns,”

What the fuck, that was an accident! 

And that was like half a year ago! 

“Hell no! Like I’m gonna let you – “

“Just stop being so stingy for once and lemme do t – “

“You damn hag, I’m gonna – “

“It’s the first time I’ve ever done anything without anyone's help, Judar-chan!”

And that caught the magi off guard.

She had that look in her eyes – like she was _charmed_ and _excited_ and _happy_ – and her painted lips were pulled into a grin that showed off her pearly white teeth and her long magenta tresses were glowing in the light of the sinking sun and _Judar nearly had trouble breathing._

He looked away, his hands fisted in his sides and his heart in his throat – it was thumping so loudly he was sure she could hear it – _and it was all so, so, so wrong._

“You know, sometimes, I feel like you're the only one who sees the worth in me,” her soft voice broke him out of his trance and he felt himself surprisingly taking a seat in the grass, keeping a good distance from the girl.

He oddly kept his mouth shut.

"Kouen-nii-sama and the others don't belittle me, of course, but....I'm nowhere near any of their levels. But really, what else can you expect? After all, I'm simply the Eight Princess of the Kou Empire. The daughter of a common whore. There is no way I can compete with someone as amazing and powerful as First Princess Hakuei,” her tone was bitter and sad and a part of Judar wanted to yell at her for always putting herself down like she always did since she was a child but a larger part of him want to scoop her up in his arms and never let go and _no, no, no, no, no._

 “You’re a fucking idiot,” he replied when he had finally found his voice.

A pebble hit him in the forearm just as he heard, “And you’re a loser,”

Untangling the bundle of thread around him, he turned around and saw the girl intently finishing the flower crown before raising an eyebrow at the choice of flowers the princess was using.

“Oi, why purple cattails?” he asked curiously.

Kougyoku grinned proudly, soft pink eyes twinkling. “They symbolize peace according to Alibaba-kun! Not that you’d know, I’m sure,”

The raven head gave her a blank stare.

Tying the knot firmly, she held it up in front of him before beaming at him haughtily.

“Pretty, isn’t it? Not that you’d know, though, given how you just destroy things just because,”

Judar rolled his eyes at that, not wanting to get into a heated debate with the girl again for the umpteenth time that day. Believe it or not, Judar didn't actually want to fight people _all_ the time. 

Cattails did symbolize peace but in the magic world, they meant something else too but he was willing to bet everything that the redheaded hag had no idea about it and why was he even thinking of it anyway, it was so stupid and –

“You know what? Since it’s the flower of peace, lemme give it to you,”

And with that, Kougyoku shoved the flower crown into the magi's arms and his eyes widened.

“This means that, from now on, you aren’t allowed to do anything as hellish as throwing me into that damn lake again. Got it?” she asked in a demanding tone but Judar had gone still, his ruby eyes wide as he processed what had just happened.

Cattails symbolized peace, yes, but in the magic world, when they were given to someone…..

“Jeez, you idiot! Are you listening to me? Hey, Judar-chan, I’m talking here, you know?!”

When they were given to someone……

They symbolized _affection_.

“….hey, why is your face all r – “

And with a snap of his fingers, the girl was lying on the flower field, her eyes closed in a deep slumber as the magi sat with the flower crown in his hands and the slightest hints of a blush across his face.

“Fuck,” he said placing a defeated hand on his face.

And when he had carried the girl back to her bedroom, - making sure no one had caught a glimpse of them; after all, after the bloody Sinbad rumor, she really didn't need anything else to tarnish her already damaged reputation and contrary to popular belief, Judar actually _did_ have a heart, just not for all - he lingered a bit longer next to the girl than he wanted.

_Don’t get too close._

Her long magenta tresses brushed against his fingers.

_Don’t get too close._

His fingers looped around her tresses.

_Don’t get too close._

He brushed her shorter fringes from her forehead.

_Don’t get too close._

His lips brushed against hers.

_Don’t get too close._

He escaped through the open window, settling on a tree branch with the full view of the princess sleeping peacefully on her bed.

“….don’t get too close, huh?” he asked in a whisper, eyeing the flower crown on his lap.

Wasn't that the ironclad rule that Al-Thamen had drilled into his brain? That attachments should only go for as long as they held worth and were of benefit to the dark magi.

Anything else was deemed redundant. 

A hindrance in Judar's path to fulfill Al-Thamen's wishes.

Especially catching the accursed 'feelings'.

Especially catching 'feelings' for Ren Kougyoku whom everyone in the palace, including that bloody witch, already knew to be the magi's weakness.

His lips tingled and when his tongue darted out to lick them, he tasted the faint sweetness of peaches.

Kougyoku had been feasting on some just a few hours ago.

Fuck.

_Don’t want._

_Don’t treasure._

_Don’t accept._

_Don’t trust._

Judar felt his heart beat at an odd rhythm.

_Don’t **feel.**_

Judar had never wanted to feel but now....

His eyes drifted towards the red haired girl, sleeping quietly.

That was all he seemed to do.

* * *

 

**Author's Note:**

> And there you have it! Apologies if either of them were OOC. This really wasn't up to my usual par but I'm pretty happy with this. It always seemed to me that Judar had a soft spot for Kougyoku given that they pretty much grew up together and I loved the omakes with them! Your thoughts are always welcome! Leave a comment below :D


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